enty-Five Years 



Of: 



Psychical 




W. J. Colville 



Twenty-Fiye Years of Psyghigal 

Experiences. 



W. J. COLVILLE. 



Lecture Delivered March 6th, 1902, Before 

London Spiritualist Alliance, in St. 

James's Hall, Piccadilly, E. Dawson 

Rogers, Esq., President of the 

Alliance in the Chair. 



Reprinted f?'om London '"''Light.'' 



BOSTON: 
Banner of Light Publishing Company 



y 



^i\ 






ifiAp'OS 



Twenty-Five Years of Psychical 
Experiences. 



The twenty-fifth anniversary of my first introduction 
to public life having occurred on the 4th of this present 
month, I have been particularly requested to give some 
definite account of my connection with psychic problems 
during a quarter of a century. If I am to relate faith- 
fully, even in barest outline, my experiences with 'un- 
seen helpers,' I must go back to my very early childhood, 
when my 'mediumship' originally declared itself. I was 
practically an orphan from birth. My mother passed to 
spirit life in my infancy and my father was called by 
important business to travel in lands remote from Eng- 
land, where I was left in charge of a guardian. My 
childhood was singularly unchildlike, as I was separated 
from children altogether, and compelled to associate ex- 
clusively with persons of thoroughly mature age. 

How I first came to see my mother clairvoyantly I do 
not know, but I distinctly remember becoming vividly 
conscious at frequent intervals of the gentle, loving pres- 
ence of a beautiful young woman, who invariably ap- 
peared to my vision gracefully attired in light garments 
of singular beauty. The head of this charming lady was 
adorned with golden ringlets; her eyes were intensely 
blue; she was tall and of rather slender build, and man- 
ifested many attributes of almost ideal womanhood. I 
cannot recall to mind any occasion when this lady spoke 
to me as one ordinary human being on earth converses 



4 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

with another, but I distinctly recollect that when I saw 
her most plainly and felt her presence most distinctly, I 
was intensely conscious of information flowing into me. 
I can only liken my experience to some memorable state- 
ments of Swedenborg concerning influx of knowledge into 
the interiors of human understanding. 

THE PROBLEM OF CLAIRVOYANCE. 

I should probably never in those early days have 
thought of such a problem as clairvoyance, had it not 
been for the surprising fact that what I saw perfectly 
other people did not see at all. I was first led to realize 
the unusual character of my vision when I mentioned the 
presence of the 'beautiful lady in white' to two persons 
who were with me when I saw her very distinctly, and 
they declared that we three were the only occupants of 
the apartment. The mystery of the fourth inmate was 
for me greatly intensified when it appeared to me that 
the other two persons, besides her and myself, could pass 
through her and she through them, while they appeared 
completely unconscious of each other's presence. An 
elderly lady with whom I was living, who was a devoted 
Churchwoman, summed up all <my singular visions, when 
I related them to her, in the following words: 'Well, I 
can't account for it, but it must either t>e the work of 
God or Satan.' Though not many months over five years 
of age at the time to which I am now referring, I 
had already heard Satan called the 'father of lies' and 
had also been taught that truth belonged to God and 
came from heaven; so my youthful intellect was not per- 
turbed with dread of any power of darkness, as I found 
that all the information which flowed into me when this 
beautiful spiritual being manifested to me was correct 
in every particular. I was, therefore, quite content to 
believe, with simple faith supported by reasoning, that 
my dear mother was watching over me as a guardian 
spirit. I often heard of guardian angels, and I was 
sometimes taken to a children's service in a church where 
a favorite 'hymn before the catechising began with the 
following invocation: — 

'Dear angel ever at my side'. 
How loving must thou : be . 
To leave thy home in heaven to guard 
A little child like me ' 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 5 

Instead of conjecturing angels as well-nigh incompre- 
hensible beings belonging to an order in the creation 
entirely different from ourselves, I rested satisfied with 
the simple, reasonable conviction that the messenger from 
unseen spheres who watched over <me most intimately, 
was the dear mother whose physical presence had been 
withdrawn from earth long before I had reached an age 
when I could have consciously appreciated it. I do not 
forget the strange shock I felt when someone said to me: 
'It is impossible that you should see your mother; you 
have no mother; she is dead.' Such vulgar, brutal words 
made no other impression on me than to set me think- 
ing along psychic lines, far more often pursued by little 
children than adults generally suppose. 

A GIFT OR A NATURAL ENDOWMENT? 

It must be borne in mind that I was an isolated and 
often a lonely child, thrown very largely upon my own 
resources for amusement and enjoyment. This circum- 
stance may suffice to suggest instructive thoughts re- 
garding conditions singularly favorable to mediumistic 
development. Is mediumship a gift or a natural endow- 
ment? is a query often raised. To answer this inquiry 
it is surely necessary to recall the two distinct senses in 
which the word 'gift' is commonly employed. We speak 
of natural gifts, of the universal gifts of God to hu- 
manity, as well as of particular bestowments vouch- 
safed to those who are sometimes segregated in our 
philosophy from the 'common herd,' and designated a 
'chosen few.' Having used the term 'clairvoyance' in 
connection with my own earliest spiritual experiences. I 
wish to define it in my own case as applying to ex- 
tended vision of three distinctly different, though closely 
allied, varieties. The first evidence of my own clear 
vision, which came to me so spontaneously and unexpect- 
edly that for a considerable season it caused me no as- 
tonishment whatever, related to beholding a form of real, 
consistent substantiality, existing on another plane of 
being than the one usually termed terrestrial. This form 
was completely and symmetrically human in every detail 
of outline, and was attired in artistic dress, not foreign 
to ordinary worldly convention, but vastly more beautiful 
and graceful than the customary mortal dress fashion- 
able in the sixties of the nineteenth century, which in- 
cluded the crinoline and the chignon. The second evi- 



6 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

dence of clairvoyance did not refer to sight, even on the 
psychic or astral plane, as sight is ordinarily understood, 
but to mental enlightenment or intellectual illumination, 
and this, not only of a general hut also of a particular 
character, as the knowledge which entered into my under- 
standing related not only to topics of usual information, 
but went deeply and precisely into manifold details of 
private family history, and included many revelations 
which brought great consternation to the hearers when 
I reported my experiences, seeing that the people among 
whom I was being reared were very desirous of hiding 
from me many facts connected with my parents of which 
my spirit mother undoubtedly wished me to become 
aware. The third feature in my clairvoyance was the 
actual predicting of coming events, and I use the term 
'coming' in the precisest possible manner for the very 
events I was led to foretell had, in many instances, act- 
ually occurred in one sense, and were on their way to 
occurring in yet another. A single example will illus- 
trate. 

THE MYSTERY OF PROGNOSTICATION. 

My grandmother's sister in Lincolnshire had decided to 
visit Sussex, but had not communicated her intention to 
anyone, though her mind was fully made up. Though I 
had never seen my great-aunt, and had rarely heard her 
mentioned, I distinctly saw her in the house where I was 
then living, and accurately described her appearance, 
even to the strings of the cap which she actually wore a 
few weeks later when paying her sister a visit. Two 
questions naturally arise at this point: First, how is it 
that we can see people who may be thinking of. us, or 
perhaps only of a place we are inhabiting, when they 
are not consciously or deliberately projecting their 
thought, or an astral likeness of themselves, to us? 
Second, how is that we see articles of wearing apparel 
which those persons may not be actually wearing at the 
time when we behold them? The following reply may 
serve to elucidate, at least in part, the foregoing mystery. 
When Herbert Spencer many years ago criticised some- 
what adversely the notion of clothing as pertaining to 
the spirit world, he evidently overlooked a very import- 
ant consideration, to the effect that our clothing is all 
mentally designed before it can be physically confected. 
A new fashion in dress is impossible except as an out- 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 7 

come of a new mental concept of apparel. Not only 
Swedenborg, but Shakespeare also, clearly illustrates the 
close connection which must ever logically exist between 
the wearer and the garment worn; and in no case do we 
find the suggestive doctrine more clearly taught by in- 
ference than in the play of 'Hamlet,' where the father 
of the Prince of Denmark appears in spirit, clad in 
armor, at the very time when he is seeking to inspire 
his son to make war against an uncle who has incurred 
the fierce displeasure of the discarnate king. Not only 
do we clothe ourselves physically in such raiment as be- 
comes our immediate mental state, but we often uncon- 
sciously supply, gratuitously, portraits of ourselves doing 
things we intend to do, things, indeed, which we have 
spiritually already done, and which we shall certainly 
ultimate 'materially unless our plans are unexpectedly 
frustrated. It generally simplifies the mystery of prog- 
nostication if we do but consider that seership is a 
faculty which enables a seer or seeress to actually be- 
hold what exists on a plane of ultimation prior to the 
physical. 

AN EVENTFUL DAY. 

As I grew from childhood to rather riper age, and in 
the meantime attended schools and became interested in 
many external pursuits and objects, my singularly spon- 
taneous mediumship became less prominent, and with 
the exception of an occasional prophetic dream of rare 
lucid 4 ty, which always came ias a needed warning, I 
gradually drifted into a more prosaic state of life, from 
which I was suddenly aroused by the 'presence of the 
world-renowned Cora L. V. Richmond (then Mrs. Tap- 
pan) in England during the seventies of the last century. 
When I was ndarly fourteen years of age, and a member 
of a church choir, Mrs. Tappan greatly excited the popu- 
lation of Brighton, where I was then residing, by her 
marvelous discourses and poems, and singularly erudite 
replies to all kinds of questions, which she claimed were 
not due to her own erudition, of which she made no 
boast and to which she laid no claim, but to the action 
through her instrumentality of a band of guides who 
were ready to speak through her whenever their services 
were in demand. May 24th, 1874, was, indeed, an event- 
ful day in my history, for though my ipubilc career as a 
lecturer and globe-trotter did not begin till nearly three 
years later, it was on the evening of that beautiful Whit- 



8 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

Sunday that I experienced the first thrill of conscious- 
ness that it was my principal lifework to travel nearly 
all over the earth, guided by unseen but not unknown in- 
spirers, who would carry me safely over all tempestuous 
oceans and protect me from all dangers by land if I 
would but be faithful to the mission entrusted to me by 
wise and kindly helpers. I have always greatly disliked 
the word 'control,' and I dislike it still, for in my ears it 
savors of coercion, and I have never been coerced by my 
inspirers, who have ever proved themselves faithful 
teachers, counsellors, and guides — veritable 'invisible 
helpers,' to use Leadbeater's felicitous expression, a title 
we may well apply to those numberless assistants who 
render multifold services to us of which we are often 
quite unconscious, but from which we derive inestimable 
benefit. ! I < ' j 

The record, of my original introduction to the work of 
inspirational speaking is now an oft-told tale; in brief, I 
may sum it up as follows: When I was walking home 
after greatly enjoying Mrs. Tappan's wonderful elo- 
quence, I registered a vow that if any good and wise in- 
telligences in the unseen state would inspire me as they 
were wont to inspire the marvelous lady who styled her- 
self their 'instrument,' I would most gladly take service 
with them and go whithersoever their counsels led me. 
I earnestly desired and confidently expected that inspira- 
tion would come to me if it were genuine at all, and 
come it did that very evening and within an hour from 
the time when I invoked it. Had no obstacles been 
placed in my way, I should have darted forth meteori- 
cally as a speaker before my fourteenth birth 'anniver- 
sary, but my legal guardian refused to grant permission 
until il was at least two years older, tfhough she did not 
prevent my occasionally appearing at private gather- 
ings, nor was she able to deprive me of some wonderful 
experiences of mesmeric or hypnotic character, which 
opened my eyes in my early teens to many of the mar- 
vels of psychology which are now demanding and receiv- 
ing attention from distinguished savants the wide world 
over. 

HYPNOTIC INFLUENCE AND SPIRIT CONTROL. 

Hypnotism and its dangers, like Spiritualism and its 
dangers, is now being discussed at every turn, and I am 
often greatly interested to hear discussions on these re- 
condite themes, when the debaters are people of experi- 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 9 

ence, but whose experiences have been largely unlike my 
own. I do not presume to settle any question for my 
neighbors, I merely speak in the first person singular 
when I declare that I was never hypnotized against -or 
even without the full consent of my own will; and as 
spiritualistic literature abounds with references to the 
virtual identity of hypnotic influence with spirit control, 
I deem it advisable to bear personal -testmony in this 
connection. Shortly after my discovery that I could 
speak inspirationally, and even be spoken through hy an 
unseen intelligence, to whose words, uttered through my 
lips, I could attend as a quiet, interested listener, I made 
the acquaintance of a brilliant young nobleman who was 
both an operatic singer and a practising psychologist. 
This young 'star' was introduced to me as desiring to 
conduct some delicate mesmeric experiments for which 
he needed the services of a lucide, or natural clairvoy- 
ant; or failing to discover anyone who would entirely 
answer to the above description, he considered it highly 
probable that his experimentation would be successful if 
he could meet a sensitive young person who was thor- 
oughly willing to yield to his suggestive influence. My 
first ejaculation when the subject was broached to me 
that I might serve for the experiments, was 'I should be 
delighted, and feel sure they will be successful.' Though 
ail the experiments were conducted in strict privacy, so 
far as the general public were concerned, many distin- 
guished persons high in the learned professions took 
active part in many of the most satisfactory of them. It 
is not usually supposed, at least by the uninitiated into 
psychic mysteries, that the words passive and negative 
are quite as correctly qualified by the terms wilfully and 
willingly as are positive and active. We are frequently 
told that mediumship is impossible without passivity, and 
such is doubtless the case, but voluntary rather than in- 
voluntary passivity or negativity conduces to the most 
reliable results. Operator and subject are terms of 
double import, but such terms as sender and receiver or 
transmitter and recipient are clearly not open to valid 
objection, seeing that they in no way imply enforced sur- 
render of one individual to another. During the nearly 
three years which intervened between my first insight 
into my capabilities as an inspired lecturer and my debut 
before a London audience, I had many opportunities for 
witnessing extraordinary phenomena, as I became well 
acquainted with many prominent Spiritualists, who 



io TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

treated me with great kindness and consideration and 
placed many exceptional advantages at my disposal for 
witnessing manifestations of all varieties. Some of these 
appealed strongly to me, others did not. I had many op- 
portunities for sitting in circles with Williams, Heme, 
Monck, Egiinton, and other extraordinary mediums, who, 
at about that time, were either in the inception or at the 
zenith of their fame. Though I was told repeatedly that 
I was a physical medium, and though I sat in many 
seances where tables moved and furniture in general be- 
haved grotesquely, I never knowingly officiated as a 
physical medium, though planchette has worked for me 
repeatedly and automatic writing has been often with me 
quite an every-day occurrence. During the greater part 
of 1877-8, I was privileged to investigate the evidences of 
phenomenal Spiritualism all over England. The most 
private gatherings were open to me, and I was times 
without number privileged to sit with the most distin- 
guished mediums under thoroughly satisfactory test con- 
ditions; but though I saw enough to convince me a thou- 
sand times over that some mysterious occult force was 
operating, and the spiritualistic hypothesis always seemed 
to me more reasonable than any other, I do not think, 
with my peculiar and naturally sceptical cast of mind, 
that I could ever have been completely convinced of the 
truth of spirit-communion had it not been for experiences 
of my own which absolutely forced me as a rational in- 
dividual to accept the only sane conclusion. 

ON THE PUBLIC PLATFORM. 

When I first took the platform I felt very much as I 
had often felt in more private places when voluntarily 
obeying the silently expressed dictation of the talented 
psychologist who could transmit to and through me any 
information he desired to convey wfcten I was in a sus- 
ceptible condition; but though he declared that I was 
perfectly his 'subject,' and I was quite willing to be 
such, I could not be induced by any professional mes- 
merist or practising physician, who was engaged in the 
conduct of hypnotic experiments, to receive or transmit 
anything, simply because I did not choose to make my- 
self passive or susceptible. I remember well sitting on 
the platform in old Doughty Hall (a Masonic edifice no 
longer in existence) on Sunday evening, March 4th, 1877, 
and gazing out upon a large concourse of people gathered 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. n 

to hear the 'kitten orator,' as I had been called because 
of my youth, discourse on a subject to be selected by 
their own vote. A hymn was sung to open a semi-re- 
ligious service, and then I rose and offered a prayer, the 
words of which formed themselves in my mouth without 
forethought or conscious volition of my own. After a 
second hymn the presiding officer— j the then celebrated 
James Burns, editor of the 'Medium and Daybreak'— an- 
nounced in my hearing that the youthful occupant of the 
platform was prepared to discourse under inspiration on 
any theme the audience might think proper to select. I 
heard this without the slightest internal trepidation. I 
had become tense, callous, self-assured, but completely 
confident that an intelligence beyond my normal own 
would certainly render me entirely equal to the occasion. 
A subject was quickly decided upon by show of hands, 
and I rose to lecture. I spoke unfalteringly for fully an 
hour, and resumed my seat uiiexcited and unfatigued. A 
third hymn was sung, and then Mr. Burns called upon 
the audience to mention topics for an impromptu poem. 
Three or four subjects were given, and no sooner was a 
decision reached by the chairman as to which topic had 
received the greatest show of hands, than I rose for the 
third and last time that evening, and heard myself reel 
off a number of verses as easily and fluently as though I 
had them well committed to memory, though I am cer- 
tain they were nowhere in print, and I was listening to 
them for the first time. The report of that memorable 
meeting created a great sensation twenty-five years ago; 
but events crowd thickly upon each other in these days, 
and a new generation has arisen since I was a 'youthful 
prodigy,' 'one of the marvels of the nineteenth century,' 
and much else, according to the newspapers, which I 
have long since forgotten. 

Immediately after my appearance in London I was 
called to all parts of England. I went as an inexperi- 
enced child to places rough and smooth, aristocratic and 
uncouth, clean and dirty, refined and vulgar, religious 
and atheistic; and wherever I went I found my unseen 
prompters ready to help me in all emergencies and to 
pilot me safely over many difficult and unpleasant places 
from which T should certainly have shrunk had I seen 
beforehand what awaited me. During the nineteen 
months of my touring as a lecturer in England, between 
March, 1877, and October, 1878, I certainly saw the world 
in a large number of its varied phases, and though many 



12 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

episodes in my career during that eventful period were 
extremely enjoyable, as I met kind and true friends al- 
most everywhere, I could, without the slightest difficulty 
or exaggeration, unfold many a tale which might amuse 
or startle more than it would edify the listeners. My 
constitution was not considered naturally robust and I 
had to encounter many hardships from which many a 
stronger person would have fled in dismay, but though I 
cannot say that I quite enjoyed all the harsher features 
of my travels in all weathers to all sorts of places, in- 
stead of succumbing I grew steadily stronger physically 
as well as mentally, so that when I left England for 
America near the close of October, 1878, my constitution 
was quite equal to endure the strain of a singularly 
tempestuous, though not dangerous, ocean passage and 
the rigors of a New England winter, to the severity of 
which the fickle climate of Albion had never subjected 
me. I well remember my departure from Liverpool for 
unknown Boston across the wide Atlantic, whither I 
was journeying entirely alone save for the clearly dis- 
tinguished presence of those faithful unseen helpers who 
never deserted me. 

CLEAR VISIONS. 

One of the clearest visions of my life attended me dur- 
ing the night prior to my departure from Liverpool. I 
fell asleep about 3 a. m., apparently as a result of fatigue 
following upon intense excitement, but my seership as- 
serted itself triumphantly in a manner which I was soon 
able to verify, even to the minutest detail. I saw myself 
standing on a wide platform which was covered with 
thick red carpet, in a great hall, with high windows on 
either side. There were an organ and choir gallery over 
the entrance to this audience room, and surmounting the 
rostrum on which I stood was a fine bust of the great 
New England preacher, the famous Theodore Parker. In 
that hall I saw ' a very large audience numbering from 
600 to 800 persons; and in the midst of the assembly the 
dignified figure of Dr. J. M. Peebles, whom I had met 
in London some months previously, loomed large before 
me. The vision impressed itself indelibly on the tablet 
of my memory; then I fell into a dreamless slumber, 
which continued until I was called to partake of my last 
breakfast in England for many a year to come. On 
reaching America I found that not only had my advent 
been heralded in the columns of the 'Banner of Light,' 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 13 

the oldest spiritualistic paper in the world, but the friend 
who met me at the landing stage (Robert Cooper, of 
Eastbourne, who was then a prominent worker in 
America) informed me that Dr. Peebles had just com- 
pleted a lecture engagement in Parker Memorial Hall, 
and that he had announced me as his successor, the com- 
mittee having accepted) me for that large and prominent 
position on the good doctor's kindly recommendation, 
though I was only eighteen years of age and entirely un- 
known to the directors of the Parker Hall lectureship. 
No sooner had I landed in America than I was quite at 
home on what was in no sense to me a foreign soil, for 
there I heard the same language spoken, and, with minor 
exceptions of no definite importance, soon discovered that 
England and America are at least first 'cousins, if not 
still nearer relatives. In Boston my work quickly grew 
apace; then I was called to New York, Philadelphia, and 
other mighty cities, not excepting Chicago, where I filled 
Mrs. Cora L. V. Richmond's platform for an extended 
period, while she was filling an engagement in Boston. 
Nearly five busy years had sped their course when, in 
1883, I found myself again in England, taking up afresh 
the work which 1 never laid down, but only temporarily 
suspended when I was led to cross the ocean and become 
a prominent worker in America. In 1884 I returned to 
the "United States, and in 1885 again revisited England. 
During those years I accomplished a large amount of 
literary work in addition to extensive traveling and con- 
stant lecturing. In 1886 I visited California for the first 
time, and spent five delightful months on the sunny 
Pacific slope, in which charming country I addressed 
daily audiences often numbering many hundred persons, 
and saw wonderful results from the practice of mental 
healing, of which I had by that time become, and of 
which I still am, an uncompromising, though I trust not 
a fanatical, advocate and exponent. 

A 'MIRACLE' OF HEALING. 

At the close of a lecture which I delivered on a spirit- 
ualistic camp ground bordering on Lake Merritt, adja- 
cent to the city of Oakland, California, a lady who had 
long been a cripple handed her crutches to her husband, 
walked home, and did not resume the use of artificial 
support subsequently. This 'miracle' of healing took 
place unconsciously to me, for I did not know there was 
a crippled woman in the assembly. I do not claim any 



14 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

part in the accomplishment of this marvel further than 
to declare that I was led to say before I concluded my 
exposition of the philosophy of healing, 'You can use 
your limbs if you determine to use them, no matter how 
long they may have failed to serve you.' I had no idea 
that I was addressing anybody in particular, and no 
member of the audience was more greatly astonished 
than myself when the 'miracle' occurred. My explana- 
tion of it is twofold; I firmly believe that there was an 
influence at work with that afflicted woman beyond my 
consciousness, and I feel also convinced that through her 
own auto-suggestive act she greatly facilitated her re- 
covery. This case is thoroughly authenticated, and is 
now in print in the supplement to my old standard work, 
'The Spiritual Science of Health and Healing,' under the 
heading, 'Testimony of Mrs. Lily Both well.' 

During that marvelous summer of 1886, which was in 
some respects the most astounding in my whole career, 
I received pressing invitations to visit Australia, from 
which far-distant land cablegrams came to me in quick 
succession. Nine years previously, at the very outset of 
my public work, I had been assured by my unseen pre- 
ceptors that there was a great work for me to accomplish 
at the Antipodes after 1 had crossed America, and I may 
here mention that I had daringly announced in a London 
paper, in 1885, that I was going to California in conse- 
quence of a communication to that effect having been 
written through my hand when I had no earthly prospect 
of pursuing my westward way further than New York 
and Boston. My disappointment was singularly keen 
when obstacles arose, mountain high, to forbid my leav- 
ing America on the completion of my first season in Cali- 
fornia. Duty called me back to Boston, and reluctantly 
I obeyed its call, with heavy heart and doubtful mind, 
for I was beginning to suspect that my unseen directors 
had been in some way thwarted in their plans for me, I 
having been solemnly assured by them that I had a mis- 
sion to fulfil in Australasia; and now that the way had 
plainly opened, the door had been ruthlessly closed and 
by no voluntary act of mine. On the way back across 
the American continent, when I paused to lecture in St. 
Louis, a message came to me with unmistakable clear- 
ness, 'You are going to Australia and New Zealand but 
not just yet! plans are ripendng but not yet matured; 
have perfect confidence in your inspirers, for though 
there is a seeming delay there has been no hitch in the 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 15 

arrangements.' 'But when shall I go?' I inquired 
eagerly. 'We cannot tell you just now; you would think 
the time too long did you foreknow its duration; but rest 
content; you are going, and you will fill a large place 
while you reside there.' With that assurance t had to re- 
main content, for I could receive nothing further con- 
cerning the Southern Hemisphere though many directions 
were given me concerning my continuous work in the 
Northern. For ten years I saw nothing of England, and 
it was through the joint instrumentality of Lady Caith- 
ness, Duchesse de Pomar in Paris, and the special ex- 
cursion of the World's Women's Christian Temperance 
Union from New York, in June, 1895, that I revisited 
Europe after ten years' unbroken residence in America. 
Those ten years had been very busy and highly eventful 
ones; my singular experiences during their highly 
chequered course would fill many a bulky volume. 1 had 
scoured America from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, 
and had met with warm receptions and enthusiastic au- 
diences everywhere, though let no one imagine that a 
pi-ominent public life means constant resting on a bed of 
roses; roses abound but thorns are often their intimate 
neighbors. I had produced a number of books, edited 
several periodicals, and contributed many hundreds of 
articles to magazines, besides having written thousands 
of letters to newspapers, in addition to musical work, be- 
fore I again set foot in England after my departure in 
1885. 

A TELEPATHIC INCIDENT. 

What first led me to turn my attention back to Europe 
during the winter of 1894 was a psychic or telepathic in- 
cident well worth repeating, though it has been previ- 
ously recorded. I well remember December 8th, 1894. On 
that day, between 2.30 p. m. and 3 p. m., I was seated at 
a desk in New York writing an article for a periodical 
which demanded copy at short notice. I was scribbling 
away at full speed, writing 'against time' as literary hacks 
describe the process, when I was suddenly arrested by a 
vision of Lady Caithness, whom I had not seen for over 
nine years, seated at an escritoire in a sumptuously fur- 
nished boudoir, the most conspicuous feature of which 
was a magnificent painting covering nearly the whole of 
one side of the wall. This painting, which I saw dis- 
tinctly in my vision, represented 'Jacob's Ladder,' and I 
remember being particularly impressed with the singular 



1 6 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

beauty of the faces of the angels. Lady Caithness was 
elaborately dressed, and engaged in writing to me; it 
seemed as though I could see ink falling from her pen 
on to the paper, while she informed me of many inter- 
esting events connected with the erection of her ducal 
palace, 'Holy rood,' to which she had recently moved from 
the fine old house in an older quarter of Paris, where 
she had hospitably entertained me and where I had held 
several conferences during 1884-5. The letter -she was 
then writing embodied the request that 1 should without 
delay contribute an article for a periodical she was then 
editing, and it also expressed a fervent hope that I should 
see my way clear to accept her offer of an engagement 
to deliver a course of lectures at 'Holyrood' during the 
ensuing June. For nearly thirty minutes this vision con- 
tinued with me, and tben, before the letter appeared 
finished, it suddenly vanished, and I resumed my inter- 
rupted article. I went to Boston for Christmas, and while 
there, on December 24th, I received, among other letters 
from New York, the identical letter from Lady Caithness, 
dated 'Paris, December 8th,' which I had beheld in my 
extremely vivid vision. In the course of the letter I 
learned that it was indited between 7.30 and 8.00 p. m., 
Paris time, which is five hours ahead of New York, and 
therefore the time coincidence was as nearly exact as it 
well could be. 

THOMSON JAY HUDSON'S THEORY. 

I 'have been repeatedly asked to describe the difference 
between telepathic and spiritual messages, and I frankly 
confess that I have rarely been able to clearly distinguish 
between them. And this statement suffices to introduce 
a consideration which is in my opinion a matter of great 
importance. Take, for example, Thomson Jay Hudson's 
much-discussed theory of two minds and two memories. 
Hudson avers that the subjective mind is the sole seat of 
the telepathic faculty, and in his three celebrated books, 
'The Law of Psychic Phenomena,' 'A Scientific Dem- 
onstration of the Future Life,' and 'The Divine Pedi- 
gree of Man,' 'he industriously undertakes to prove that, 
though the objective mind with its memory may perish 
with the decease of the physical organism, the subjective 
mind with its memory continues to live* on in the life of 
immortality. If this premiss is sound, then Hudson's 
conclusion, as put forth in his recent article (February, 
1902) in the 'Era,' a well-known American monthly, is 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 17 

quite unwarranted; and it is the height of absurdity on 
his part to declare that Spiritualists are 'fighting in the 
last ditch,' because recent experiments in the ample field 
of psychical discovery hare abundantly proved the relia- 
bility of just such telepathy as Hudson and many others 
intelligently vouch for. My own experiences) in number- 
less instances have completely satisfied me that in nine 
out of any average ten instances when psychic com- 
munion between friends can be clearly demonstrated, it 
is almost impossible to discriminate exactly between a 
message received from a communicant on earth and from 
one who has passed to the other side of existence. What, 
indeed, is that 'other side' but the side to which tele- 
pathy is indigenous? And can we afford to be sure that 
when we are functioning telepathica'lly we are not be- 
having just as we should continue to behave were we 
suddenly divested of our material envelopes? If the 
physical frame be but a sheath or vehicle of the abiding 
entity, which is the true individual, then all these fasci- 
nating evidences of thought transference, or mental teleg- 
raphy or telephony, accumulating everywhere, are but 
so many convincing proofs of the reality of our spiritual 
nature in the here 'and now, which will prove continuous 
in the hereafter and the future. Evidences of psychic 
presence and spiritual guidance having attended my steps 
from infancy, I cannot specialize any particular season 
when I have enjoyed the greatest number of distinct 
proofs of super-terrestrial guidance, but such have al- 
ways been most distinct and multiple when the need for 
them has been greatest. 

I will now select, almost at random, a few notably 
striking instances of warning, guidance, and simply in- 
teresting seership, which stand forth prominently in my 
recollection as my thoughts revert to days gone by. 

A WARNING VOICE. 

Once in California, when I had arranged to lecture in 
a theatre in Los Angeles while I was yet in San Fran- 
cisco, I purchased a ticket and secured a berth on a 
steamer leaving on a Thursday, and due at San Pedro, 
the port of Los Angeles, by noon next Saturday. It was 
summer weather and the coast steamers were almost in- 
varia'bly punctual to schedule time. Feeling perfectly 
sure that I should reach Los Angeles at least twenty-four 
hours before I needed to appear in the theatre, I felt no 
apprehension, after securing my tickets, as to fulfilling 



18 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

my engagemeut, and therefore I was greatly surprised 
when, while walking up Market street, I heard a voice 
saying distinctly beside me, 'Change your ticket; go by 
train: boat will not arrive till Monday.' At first I paid 
no attention to this strange admonition, and was simply 
perplexed to account for its origin; but after it had been 
twice repeated I resolved to run no risk of disregarding a 
necessary counsel, and I (therefore returned to the office 
where I had secured my passage and changed my tickets 
from boat to rail, despite the positive declaration of the 
booking agent that the boats were always on time, and 
that I could rely on meeting my engagement if I adhered 
to my first intention. Having procured a railway ticket 
in compliance with the urgent request of the unseen 
monitor, I mentally asked, 'What will cause the delay?' 
to which I received an answer, clairaudiently, with great 
distinctness, 'Accident to propeller; no danger, but vessel 
will have to return for repairs; it will arrive safely on 
Monday.' On arrival in Los Angeles on the Saturday 
morning, friends remonstrated with me for having for- 
feited a pleasant water journey at a season when boats 
were far preferable to trains in that vicinity; but I in- 
sisted that as I was announced to deliver two lectures on 
the following day it was imperatively necessary for me 
to arrive before the steamer, which I was certain would 
be belated. Saturday and Sunday flboth passed and no 
steamer arrived. I addressed two great audiences before 
the boat finally got in on the Monday morning, telling a 
tale of broken propeller and return to port of departure 
for repairs. 

Another incident of quite a different character, but 
none the less phenomenal, even though less practically 
useful, concerned an acquaintance I formed in London in 
1895, during a course of private midnight seances I was 
privileged to attend at which conditions were exception- 
ally fine. To accommodate the several professionals who 
were members of the circle, we assembled twice a week 
at midnight and continued our sittings till from 2 a. m. 
to 3 a. m. Our chief centre of attraction was a huge 
crystal placed in the centre of a large library table. The 
crystal was as large as an ordinary globe for containing 
goldfish, and into this brilliant object we all quietly but 
intently gazed, with a view to increasing concentrated- 
ness of thought and vision. After we had become sus- 
ceptible to psychic vision we let our eyes close if they 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 19 

seemed so disposed, and we described whatever came be- 
fore us. Among a multiplicity of telling incidents con- 
nected with that circle, I remember describing accurately 
scenes then being enacted in a house in Brighton occu- 
pied by the parents and other relatives of a young army 
officer whose regiment was soon afterwards ordered to 
India. Some months later, when this gentleman was iB 
Calcutta and I in New York, I saw him as plainly as 
though he were physically beside me, and on the occasion 
of his birthday, when some friends presented him with a 
handsome pair of ivory-backed military hair brushes on 
which his monogram was richly chased in blue and gold, 
I saw those articles as plainly as though he and I had 
been actually in a room together, inspecting the birth- 
day presents. A letter which came to me from him a few 
weeks later described those brushes precisely and con- 
tained the words, 'I am sure you are receiving a tele- 
pathic despatch from me at this instant.' 

SPIRITUALISM BASED ON TRUTH. 

Though I have narratives to relate which would fill 
many a volume, all illustrative of the great question of 
psychic intercourse between friends yet on earth and 
those who have 'passed over,' as well as manifold de- 
scriptions of most convincing telepathy where both par- 
ties have been still incarnate, I must reserve for future 
opportunities the narration of other striking incidents. 
But now that I have just rounded out a full twenty-five 
years of public service, I feel it a solemn duty as well 
as a high privilege to bear unequivocal testimony to the 
always beneficial effect which mediumship such as I have 
developed has had on me from all standpoints. Mentally 
and physically I owe immensely much to those very en- 
dowments and experiences which mistaken people imag- 
ine are weakening to mind and body. That there are 
dangers and drawbacks I do not deny, but through all 
my varied and protracted experiences on and off the plat- 
form, for more than a quarter*of a century, I have in- 
variably found that the directions given me from unseen 
helpers have been sound, elevating, and truthful to the 
letter in all particulars; while the telepathic incidents, 
at which I have scarcely more than hinted, have been 
always interesting, never mischievous, and invariably 
calculated to throw bright light on many a mystic prob- 
lem. During the nearly two years which I recently spent 



20 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF 

below the Equator, I have pursued my way unflaggingiy 
and untiringly in all varieties of climate and in a great 
variety of surroundings. I owe a deep debt of gratitude 
to friends, seen and unseen, for the many tokens of their 
care and kindness which have brightened all my journey- 
ings and rendered possible of accomplishment the widely 
extended mission which took me to the Southern Hemis- 
phere. Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, New- 
castle, and many smaller places in great Australia, I 
shall ever feel united with as centres of work which I 
know has already borne good fruit in numerous ways. 
Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch in picturesque 
New Zealand will always remain equally sacred in my 
memory- During all my Antipodean wanderings I found 
my psychic faculties fully as clear and tas much in evi- 
dence as in other lands where the Southern Cross is an 
unseen constellation. I am now assured that my travel- 
ing days are not yet over, and that I still have oceans to 
cross, and continents to traverse, before I can honorably 
retire from active service, if such retirement shall ever 
be my portion. The dangers of Spiritualism are in my 
judgment greatly overrated, while its blessings are often 
minimized; for though I have been since 1890 a member 
of the Theosophical Society, and my acquaintance and 
connection with the Mental Science movement is a mat- 
ter of public knowledge, I wish publicly, emphatically, 
and irrevocably to bear my testimony to the irrefutable 
truth of spirit communion. With the peculiar theories 
advocated by some Spiritualists I have no sympathy; and 
I daresay there are tricksy spirits, as well as unreliable 
people on this side the mystic border; but though I must 
remain the 'free lance' I have ever been, and work wher- 
ever I am called to operate, and therefore cannot pose 
as exclusively a Spiritualist, inclusively I am as thor- 
ough-going an advocate of Spiritualism as any of its 
most enthusiastic representatives. I owe nothing to de- 
veloping circles, and comparatively little to spiritualistic 
literature, or to phenomenal mediumship of an objective 
type; therefore my assurance of Spiritualism's central 
claim can never be weakened by any controversy which 
may rage concerning dubious phenomena. I have seen 
the unmistakably genuine, the ambiguous, and the fraud- 
ulent, and having seen so much I am prepared to testify 
to this effect, irrevocably— that Spiritualism is based on 
truth, and no matter how many barnades may have to 



PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 21 

be swept from such institutions as are devoted to its 
special advocacy, the twentieth century must and will 
witness a spiritual- revealing for which all the wonders 
of the nineteenth, stupendous though they have been, 
have only paved the way. 

A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Colville 
on the motion of the President, who said he had noticed 
with pleasure the evident gratification with which the 
company had, throughout, listened to the speaker's in- 
teresting narrative, and he had no doubt that the friends 
would be glad if arrangements could be made for Mr. 
Colville to continue his narrative at an early date. This 
suggestion was received with manifestations of cordial 
approval. 



The Question of Spirit Identity. 



CONTINUED RECORD OF PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 



Lecture delivered by W. J. Oolville before the London 

Spiritualist Alliance, in St. James's Hall, 

Piccadilly, May 15th, 1902. 



The vexed question of spirit identity is one which is 
always liable to occasion considerable discussion, chiefly 
by reason of the fact that what appears thoroughly con- 
clusive to some types of mind seems inconclusive to 
others. It is, therefore, necessary to approach this im- 
mense and vital subject not only entirely free from prej- 
udice, but also fortified with clear understanding of the 
actual worth of the various theories now submitted for 
popular acceptance as substitutes for what is often 
termed the spiritualistic hypothesis. 

A very friendly correspondent in 'Light' has recently 
asked whether it is possible for us to explain clearly how 
we discriminate between telepathic and spiritistic mes- 
sages—to use the exact words of the courteous truth- 
seeker who raises the inquiry. Frankly, we admit that it 
is often quite beyond our present ability to discriminate 
completely between them, but this lack of ability always 
to discriminate, far from weakening the testimony favor- 
able to simple Spiritualism, only necessitates a recon- 
sideration of the entire problem of our human constitu- 
tion before we attempt to formulate an inclusive theory 
to explain the entire bulk of our diversified psychic ex- 
periences. A very large number of thoughtful readers 
have been much impressed by Thomson Jay Hudson's 
three celebrated books: 'The Law of Psychic Pheno- 
mena,' 'A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life,' 
and 'The Divine Pedigree of Man,' in which the hy- 



24 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

pothesis known as the dual theory of the human mind is 
very fully and forcibly expounded. Professor Hudson, 
in common with many other able writers, labors to some 
extent under a burden of preconception adverse to Spir- 
itualism, which often mars the beauty and consistency of 
his otherwise excellent nterary work. The evidence for 
telepathy which this author puts forward is very strong 
and in some instances unimpeachable, but the alleged evi- 
dence 'against Spiritualism is rationally inadmissible, be- 
cause it is of a singularly negative and supposititious 
character. We must face our problem bravely, not at- 
tempting to disguise the fact that during the past sev- 
eral years much evidence has accumulated in favor of 
simple telepathy which some over-enthusiastic Spiritual- 
ists may have been liable to undervalue because it has 
been erroneously supposed that, if accepted, it would 
tend against the interests of the cause which is nearest 
of all to their hearts. A better understanding of tele- 
pathy, and a fuller comprehension of what is logically 
involved in Hudson's 'two minds' theory, may serve to 
set many doubters at rest. We must not forget that the 
title of Hudson's second book is utterly misleading and 
an entire misnomer, if the evidences of telepathy prove 
communion between friends on earth but throw no light 
on the condition of those who have 'crossed the border.' 
The author persistently claims that of our two minds, 
which he consistently designates objective and subjective, 
the former perishes at the time of physical dissolution, 
but the latter lives on and finds a sphere for fuller and 
more perfect functioning than it ever enjoyed on earth. 
This theory accounts for telepathy as a sort of foretaste 
of the method of communion between friendly entities 
which will prevail unceasingly in the future life. The 
only flaw that we have been able to detect in Hudson's 
chain of reasoning is the poor opinion he seems to enter- 
tain of the moral integrity of the subjective mind, 
coupled with the utterly foundationless assertion that 
overwhelming evidence of unrestricted telepathy will 
drive Spiritualists, ere long, even out of that 'last ditch' 
in which they are now desperately fighting (according to 
Hudson) to save a lost cause and rescue a forlorn hope. 
Reasonable identification of telepathy with direct 
spirit-commuuionj instead of introducing a new perplexiry 
and further complicating an already complicated situa- 
tion, introduces us for the first time to an orderly, har- 



THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 25 

monious, and easily comprehended interpretation of many 
analogous facts and parallel experiences which have long 
perplexed the average student of psychic phenomena, 
though there have always been singularly luminous ex- 
ponents of mental and spiritual science and philosophy, 
who have gone a long distance on the road which must 
lead eventually to universal understanding of man as a 
spiritual being. 

We have frequently been asked to define clearly where- 
in consists the difference between a message received 
from a friend yet on earth, and a similar communication 
from one who has 'passed over.' Spiritualistic literature 
has largely been encumbered with two oft- repeated 
phrases, 'spirit return' and 'spirits coming back to 
earth.' These phrases are to a large extent misleading, 
for, though there are instances where such language may 
accurately and adequately describe the nature of certain 
manifestations, sach expressions do not by any means 
correctly serve to describe the actual experiences of the 
great majority of seers and seeresses of ancient or mod- 
ern times. Intromission to the spiritual state is a phrase 
full of deep significance, and, were it used more fre- 
quently, it would serve to elucidate many a problem of 
clairvoyance, elairaudience, clairsentience, and phychom- 
etry. Professors Denton and Buchanan, in their 
learned dissertations concerning psychometry, illustrated 
by numerous recitals of personal experience, have in- 
sisted that a true psychometer perceives the aura of an 
object, and can at times distinctly see into the spirit- 
world and become consciously en rapport with denizens 
thereof. Such quickened perception may fairly be con- 
sidered as in some degree an anticipation of the means of 
intercourse we shall enjoy one with another when we 
have hade farewell to our robes of flesh. 

If at this point we are reminded that the question of 
spirit identity is specially our theme at present, we may 
surely claim that if we are called upon to identify those 
intelligent beings with whom we are in communication, 
we must apply the same laws of evidence to this matter 
as to questions of individual identification when only 
mundane matters are involved. To identify a fellow- 
being in any world is not always easy, and indeed it 
often is found to be extremely difficult when we rely 
solely on outward tests. 'The hands are the hands of 
Esau, but the voice is the voice of Jacob' is a vivid 
Scriptural instance of the extreme difficulty experienced 



26 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

by an ancient patriarch in deciding which of his two 
sons was actually in his presence. The blindness of 
Isaac is easily typical of the condition in which most 
people are found when some sort of deception is suc- 
cessfully practised upon them. Evidences of two kinds 
are presented together. One set of evidences appeal to 
feeling, the other to intelligence. We judge people very 
often by outward appearances which we subsequently 
find to have been altogether deceptive, and if it be ad- 
mitted in any degree that there are deceiving spirits who 
sometimes visit us, we are obviously placed in precisely 
the same position with reference to them as with regard 
to persons yet on earth who play us false because we 
are open to deception. The difficulties attending spirit 
identification are not necessarily greater than those sur- 
rounding the identity of persons who 'are yet encased in 
mortal garments. 

No purely external tests are always valid. Indeed, to 
place extreme reliance upon such alone is to encourage 
swindling, and play into the hands of forgers who are 
usually very capable of simulating perfectly the outward 
garb of those they seek to personate. Testimonials, ref- 
erences, and letters of introduction constitute no in- 
fallible criteria, 'as these may all (be counterfeit or stolen. 
The only sure way to identify anyone absolutely is by 
cultivating psychic perceptiveness, and this is more apt 
to be strongly developed in highly sensitive persons than 
in any others. Deception is, however, less likely to be 
practised on the spiritual than on the material side of 
existence, because the motive to deceive is far less 
strong. Expectation of worldly gain urges most deceivers 
on earth to ply their nefarious vocation, and it may 
be safely assumed that at least ninety per cent, of all 
deception would vanish from the earth if no financial or 
other ulterior gain could accrue from it. To palm oneself 
off as another would be objectless folly in which very few 
people would care to indulge did they not think they saw 
in such deception a means for self-enrichment or aggran- 
dizement. 

It may with some fairness be assumed that when com- 
municating intelligences who display only very meagre 
intelligence profess to be very celebrated and illustrious 
personages, they may be hankering for the incense of 
adulation, but when no great names are given and no 
pretentious claims are made, it is difficult to see what 
reason could be fairly given for simply stupid masque- 



f 



THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 27 

rading or deliberate misrepresentation of any sort. We 
know from experience that auto-suggestion on the part of 
the alleged recipient of a spiritual communication may 
account for some instances of falsification, especially 
when such self-deception tends largely to self-glorifica- 
tion or the gratifying of personal vanity. A great draw- 
back to untainted spirit-communion is the prejudice and 
vanity of many sensitives, but this very foolishness on 
their part sometimes serves to reveal an aspect of truth 
which is frequently neglected, viz., that there may be 
perfect sincerity and frankness on the side of the un- 
seen communicator, while the person to whom the com- 
munication is made may be the sole suggester of the de- 
ceptive element. 

A lady in one of the Southern States of America de- 
clared that she was in direct communion with George 
Washington, the first President of the United States; but 
her friends as a rule laughed at her claim, because by 
means of automatic writing through the lady's hand, and 
by means of trance speaking through her lips, 'George 
Washington' expressed himself most ungrammatically 
and in negro dialect. On a notable occasion when 
'George Washington' was speaking through this lady's 
mediumship, he was distinctly seen by a fine clairvoyant 
who had been invited to a seance, and at the conclusion 
of the address this seeress described what she had wit- 
nessed during its delivery, which was the presence of a 
very decided African of Ethiopian tint and cast of feat- 
ure, and who appeared strongly attached to the lady 
through whose mediumship he had been able to deliver a 
lengthy message. On 'being requested to describe all she 
saw, the seeress went on to give particulars of a vener- 
able old servant who had been named 'George Washing- 
ton,' who had been a faithful retainer of the family prior 
to the Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1865, and had 
in that year steadily refused to accept his freedom, as he 
dearly loved the old estate and was devotedly attached 
to his master and mistress, parents of the lady through 
whom he was then able to communicate and whom he 
had often nursed during her earliest girlhood, ere he 
passed to spirit life, when she was not over eight years 
of age. That simple incident served to explain the en- 
tire problem, and it afforded a thoroughly rational expla- 
nation of a phenomenon belonging to a class, by no 
means uncommon in America, which have led to denun- 



28 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

ciations of fraud where none existed — theories of wicked 
personating spirits, and many other vagaries of un- 
balanced judgment — to say nothing of the would-be 
clever remark made by people who were more 'smart' 
than wise, that it must be a terrible thing to die if iu 
our post mortem condition we so quickly and sadly de- 
teriorate. An instance like the foregoing will bear thor- 
ough sifting, and it is surely much easier to explain such 
an instance in the light of direct spirit communion than 
by straining an auto-suggestive or telepathic hypothesis 
to the breaking point to invent an improbable, in place of 
a probable, interpretation. Had the lady referred to 
suggested the matter to herself she would certainly have 
been fairly grammatical, as she was a comparatively 
well-educated woman, and not being a negress she would 
not have clothed an imaginary message from George 
Washington, as she conceived of Mm, in negro dialect. 
Admitting telepathy, mental telegraphy, or telephony, or 
aught else that is in any measure psychical, nothing can 
well be more likely than that a good old negro who had 
been for many years a faithful servant to the family re- 
siding on that particular estate, should seek an avenue of 
communion with it through the agency of a member to 
whom he had been greatly attached just before he passed 
into the realm of spirit. 

It is doubtless true that many spirits leave the earth 
and all pertaining to it, very shortly after the demise of 
the physical body, while others remain closely connected 
with the scenes of their earth existence, not because they 
are earth-lbound in the sense of being unhappy creatures 
who cannot, on account of their sensual vices, rise above 
the mundane level, but because their affections still cling 
to persons and places with which they have enjoyed 
pleasing associations up to the latest moment of their 
terrestrial existence. Andrew Jackson Davis, as well as 
Swedenborg, and many other gifted seers, have said 
much concerning the many spheres in this solar system 
encircling the various planets, which have often been 
numlbered from one to seven, and then again divided and 
sub-divided into circles within circles, like wheels within 
wheels in Ezekiel's visions; and those who have become 
strongly attracted to such teaching — and their name is le- 
gion — have brought forward the revelations of these 
prophets to disavow the declaration, made from a some- 
what different standpoint, that multitudes of spirits can- 



THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 29 

not return to earth as they have not yet taken their de- 
parture from this planet's immediate atmosphere, or even 
from the exact localities where a large portion of their 
earthly days were spent in work or amusements in which 
they took a decided interest. 

While indulging in personal reminiscences, and not de- 
siring to repeat a record of experiences already published 
and circulated, I will narrate a very recent instance of 
what seems to me clear evidence of spirit identity. When 
I was in Australia about eighteen months ago, in Syd- 
ney, 1 frequently employed the services of a bright, en- 
terprising young man, who was an excellent typist, and 
to whom I dictated portions of several books and numer- 
ous magazine articles. Before taking my last earthly 
farewell of this young gentleman, on the eve of his de- 
parture for New Guinea, whither he went to occupy a 
post of trust and influence, he said to me that he hoped 
when I returned to England he might accompany me on 
the ocean, as he much desired, though by birth an Aus- 
tralian, to visit the Mother Country, which, though 
twelve thousand miles distant, is invariably called 'home' 
by Australasians. My reply was that though I could not 
definitely foresee my own plans for the near future, and 
could, therefore, promise nothing, I held myself in full 
readiness to fall in with his wishes should opportunity 
occur to favor the carrying out of the project. Shortly 
after his arrival in New Guinea in full possession of 
health, and seemingly of vigorous constitution, he caught 
the local fever, and in three days he had made his exit 
from the mortal body. I cannot say that he was very 
frequently in my thoughts, or that his loss would seem 
to me irreparable; still there was a- link of sympathy be- 
tween us which evidently made it possible for him to 
manifest his presence to me on more than one occasion 
during three distinct stages of my voyage from Sydney, 
via New Zealand and across America, to England. The 
first time he attempted to make himself known to me 
was between Sydney and Auckland, but as I was seldom 
alone during the four brief days that voyage occupied I 
cannot remember any very definite evidence of his iden- 
tity, though I was fully conscious of his presence. The 
second visit which I know he made me was en route to 
California, when I had a large cabin to myself on the 
'Sonoma,' and not being much acquainted with any of 
my fellow passengers I had many opportunities for quiet 
silence and uninterrupted meditation. I well remember 



30 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

distinctly feeling the presence of my young friend with 
mc, just as I had known him in Australia, and so real 
and tangible was the sense of that presence that it 
seemed exactly as though another person was sharing 
the cabin with me. I was quite awake, perfectly calm, 
and fully able to determine all he said to me, and yet I 
am certain I heard nothing with my external ears except 
the motion of the vessel passing through the water. Not 
only did I feel, or sense, his presence, 'but he gave me 
information concerning his situation in New Guinea, and 
the circumstances of his life there, which I subsequently 
learned, through correspondence with a mutual acquain- 
tance, were correct in every detail. On the third occa- 
sion, when I as strongly realized his presence, I was 
nearing Plymouth on my voyage from New York last 
February, and on that occasion he gave me information 
concerning his present state and occupation, and told me 
several things in regard to my own near future, which 
have since been fully verified. Such definite, direct, and 
truthful communications certainly do not proceed from 
lying spirits, nor do they emanate from my own sub- 
self, whose reputation for veracity and sanity I am nat- 
urally interested to maintain; and when I speak a good 
word for my own subjective mind— which is to live here- 
after when my objective mind has perished — I stand up 
equally for the corresponding sub-selves or subjective 
minds of all my neighbors. It is immeasurably more ra- 
tional to maintain a reasonable spiritualistic version of 
such facts as I have just related than to invent, and up- 
hold at all hazard, a contradictory and extremely compli- 
cated theory of the mysteries of telepathy, which serves 
to befog far more than to enlighten rational inquirers. 
Id seeking to reply definitely to the very natural inquiry 
whether there is any marked difference in appearance 
between the psychic, or astral, body of a person yet on 
earth, and of one who has parted company with earthly 
raiments, I venture to suggest that only when the factor 
of clairvoyance is added to telepathy is this clearly deter- 
minable. Usually the appearance to psychic vision of one 
who has left the flesh is more ethereal than that of one 
who is still connected with it, but when only a sense of 
presence is realized, and intelligence is inwardly com- 
municated, it is often impossible to decide whether the 
despatch in question is being received from a friend yet 
on earth or from one who is more frequently designated 
a 'spirit.' 



THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 31 

Unnecessary difficulties in the way of rational spiritual 
identification are created by many persons who evidently 
mistake identity which pertains to abidiing individuality 
for the most external incidences of ever-fluctuating ex- 
terior personality. Such questions are often raised as, 'If 
you see my father can you describe his appearance? does 
he wear a beard? how is he dressed?' and much else of 
the same almost ridiculous character. A little sober 
reflection must convince the veriest tyro that such ques- 
tions, answered one way or another, cannot determine 
identity. We all know that fashions alter and habits 
change with wonderful rapidity, and it is by no means 
difficult for a man to remove a full Obeard in a few 
moments, or let one grow in a few weeks, thereby com- 
pletely altering one aspect of his appearance. Black hair 
easily turns white, stout persons grow thin, and slender 
persons become stout, very frequently, while changes 
wrought by passing years and varying emotions fre- 
quently suffice to render old photographs, once speaking 
likenesses, no longer discernible, unless to the acutest 
students of physiognomy. It is, however, continually 
declared that clairvoyants see our spirit friends as they 
were when we last beheld them or as they appeared when 
we were most intimately associated with them. And 
such testimony, founded as it often is on actual fact, 
needs to be interpreted in the light of other knowledge 
than that obtainable by simple and often mysterious 
clairvoyance. Astral pictures are often ibeheld in the air 
of old houses, where certampeople have lived long periods, 
and to which they have become greatly attached, and 
these psychic photographs are often mistaken for the 
actual presence of departed spirits by persons who rely 
on^ gjgh t as evidence aparjLfrom feeling or manifest in- 
telligence. A fact in my own experience may serve to 
illustrate two features of this portion of the subject of 
spirit identity. 

Some years ago I was sojourning in an old country 
mansion in America, which had been the abiding place of 
a single family ever since its erection. The room as- 
signed me as a sleeping apartment had, as I afterwards 
learned, been for many years the special working and 
reading room of a maiden aunt who had been quite a 
second mother to the family. In that room she had spent 
a great part of her time during her latest years on earth, 
and one of her favorite occupations was knitting stock- 



Itl 



32 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

ings by the fire. For four nights in succession, during my 
occupancy of that room, did I see that quiet elderly 
lady, with knitting in her hands, seated before a fire in 
the grate, which was at that season of the year filled 
with a summer ornament. At first I thought I rnust be 
actually in communion with the kindly, placid dame, 
and that she might have a message to convey through 
me to some menfber of the household; but, concentrate 
my thoughts and attention intently as I could upon the 
vision, 1 could detect no animation, nor could I receive 
even the faintest intimation of intelligence. The people 
with whom I was residing were not at all averse to 
Spiritualism, and when I told them exactly what I had 
seen four nights in succession in that particular bed- 
room, they all agreed that it was an exact description of 
their aunt, even to the smooth bands of brown front 
hair, and the cap with lilac satin ribbons tied under the 
chin; but they, in common with myself, wondered why, 
if I could see their aunt so clearly, I never saw her move 
and could obtain no impression of her intelligence. On 
the fifth night of my occupancy of that apartment I 
experienced a totally different sensation in connection 
with the same apparition, which I again beheld stationary 
and unresponsive as before; but on this occasion, 
hovering over the astral picture I beheld a radiant, 
youthful form bearing a certain family resemblance to 
the abiding simulacrum, but instinct with the fire and 
energy of active life and operating intelligence. Con- 
temporaneously with this new additional experience, in- 
formation clearly flowed into some receptacle of my 
consciousness, causing me to become aware that the 
original of the portrait desired her nieces and nephews 
to find in her old writing desk certain papers she had 
written long ago and which she desired should be revised, 
edited, and published. Following the minute directions 
given me by this guiding intelligence, I accompanied 
several members of the family to a lumher room in which 
many discarded articles of furniture had long been stored; 
and there among them stood an ancient escritoire, in 
which we found a completed story setting forth a roman- 
tic and highly edifying history of marvelous episodes in 
what the world would doubtless have looked upon as a 
secluded and uneventful career. After this startling 
confirmation of the veracity of my vision, we formed 
a private family circle for further investigation, and 



THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 33 

thereat, by means of automatic writing, supplemented by 
clairvoyance, we verified many extraordinary statements 
made by this living relative of the family, who assured 
us that she was no longer sitting by a fire engaged in 
knitting, but most actively employed in spiritual oc- 
cupations, which did not, however, alienate her in the 
least from her old associates but, on the contrary, kept 
her in close vital touch with all of them, though in a 
subtler and more ethereal manner than before she had 
quitted the material frame. 

Another interesting experience of my own dates back 
only to the autumn of 1899, shortly before my departure 
for Australia. I had long known Mrs. Emma Hardinge 
Britten, but my first interview with her was in 1877, at a 
lecture delivered in Manchester, when she was a middle- 
aged woman, dressed in much the same style as she con- 
tinued to adopt till she finally withdrew from the public 
platform. Since her passing to spirit life, this earnest 
worker has occasionally made herself distinctly known to 
me, both on and off the platform, and in November, 1899, 
I distinctly saw, in connection with a most forceful real- 
ization of her close proximity, the likeness of a radiant 
maiden with light golden curls, somewhat resembling the 
earliest pictures of Mrs. Richmond wlhen she was Cora 
Hatch, but in no way suggesting Mrs. Britten to me 
by the appearance. I never could have understood that 
vision had I not visited Mrs. Wilkinson (Mrs. Britten's 
sister), about a month later, and, while her guest in 
Manchester, been shown a picture taken many years ago, 
representing Emma Hardinge in youthful costume as 
'Queen of the Fairies.' This ipicture represents the young 
lady who afterwards became Mrs. Britten with flaxen 
ringlets, and in every way precisely as she showed her- 
self to me on the occasion of my vision. Had I 
suggested to myself a similitude of Mrs. Britten, I should 
certainly have conjured up from the depths of memory 
a likeness of her as I (had known her; and when I 
interrogated her spiritually through the imediumship of 
automatic writing, subsequent to beholding the portrait 
at Mrs. Wilkinson's, the following message was com- 
municated: T knew you were going to my sister's; I 
therefore, I wished to give you a singular test of my ■ 
identity, which I find I have succeeded in doing; and j 
there is another reason why I showed myself to you thus — 
I wished to impress you with the knowledge that I can 



1 ore 



34 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

now show myself in vario^sf^gggj^to my friends, and 
my present, appearanceiai^nore closely resembles that 
of my youth on earth than that of my later age.' 

'How do we know each other here?' is quite as grave 
a question as 'Shall we know each other there ?' I 
remember some years ago, iu New York, 'being asked by 
a mutual friend to meet a gentleman who was returning 
to America after ten years' residence in Germany, and 
who was described to me from a portrait as a slender 
man with jet black hair. And such he doubtless was 
when he embarked for Germany, but during the decade of 
years he had spend in Europe, he had grown decidedly 
corpulent and his hair had become positively white. I 
nevertheless knew him by instinct, though I had never 
met him previously, and I accosted him by name, greatly 
to his surprise, directly he had left the steamer. Had 
I been slavishly governed by my physical senses instead 
of trusting to some surer and subtler faculty of discern- 
ment, I should certainly have failed to acknowledge him, 
so greatly did he differ in appearance from the descrip- 
tion 1 had been given of him. We cannot expect that 
when we change in outward aspects thus rapidly on 
earth, we shall remain stationary in external aspect in 
the world of spirits. There is, however, this to be said 
concerning relatively fixed appearance in the life beyond. 
We are not there, as here, so greatly affected by outward 
climate, and outer appearance changes only as it indicates 
alterations in our interior state. Such is the unanimous 
and unfaltering verdict of spiritual testifiers wherever 
they have made their presence known. 

And now, finally, concerning the weighing of evidence 
in the scales of reason. We may certainly maintain in the 
face of all opposition that every individual communica 
tion should be judged on its particular merits, and neither 
be accepted nor rejected on the merits or demerits of any 
other submitted message. We cannot believe, unless we 
part company with reason, that we are victims of stupid 
or wicked deception in cases where the teachings given 
are of the highest moral import, and where the informa- 
tion offered is proved correct in every detail as far as we 
can possibly verify it. The crude and intricate theories 
now afloat to discredit evidence of spirit intercourse are | 
far more difficult and far less probable than the plain 
satisfactory conclusion long ago reached by all intelligent , 
and dispassionate inquirers — that .we do on many occa- 



l 



' 



THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 35 

sions receive convincing proof of the identity of com- 
municating spirits. In conclusion, let us look for an 
instant at the mental characteristics of a few of the 
typical students of psychic phenomena who during recent 
years have become thoroughly satisfied that in many 
instances, though not 111 all, proof positive of spirit 
identity has been obtained. Professor Hodgson and Mr. 
Myers were thoroughly satisfied at length, through Mrs. 
Piper's mediumship and that of other sensitives; and so 
were Miss Lilian Whiting and Rev. Minot J. Savage, as 
well as many other representative and cautious investi- 
gators. These famous persons had nothing to gain and 
possibly something to lose, by outspoken advocacy of 
Spiritualism; and in the case of Dr. Savage it is well- 
known that his tendency of thought was decidedly 
agnostic, and for many years during his popular ministry 
in Boston he was largely a champion and exponent of the 
philosophy of Herbert Spencer. It is difficult to see why 
people should prefer the Devil to their own friends who 
have passed beyond the mystic portals, and it surely can- 
not <be easier for normal intellects to believe in imaginary 
evil demons, of whom we know practically nothing, ex- 
cept on unsupported hearsay, than in the presence and 
activity of the very people whom we have known on earth 
as real personages, and who reappear with their own 
well-known characteristics. Telepathy and all other de- I 
monstrable phases of psychic phenomena must be freely 
admitted by every student of psychic science, and it has » 
now become the imperative duty and solemn (privilege of I 
all who have knowledge in this direction to elucidate as f 
far as possible the truthful doctrine of the close resem- I 
blance and intimate relation of telepathy to Spiritualism. | 
Simple telepathy throws much clear light on our present I 
spiritual abilities,' and spirit communion transcends 
mundane telepathic experience by carrying telepathy j 
across the unseen border into- those .sympathetic realms 
of spiritual activity where tlie powers and functions of 
our 'sub-selves' or 'subjective 'minds' are moire fully un- \ 
folded and more freely and extensively exercised than | 
they seemingly ever can be during terrestrial embodiment. 
Let us be open to all classes of evidence, and construct 
theories to account for facts, but never seek to squeeze 
facts into grooves of premeditated theory. 

Following the lecture, a number of questions were asked 
and answered. Among the replies, the following were 



i 



36 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

conspicuous. The lecturer said, in reply to an inquiry 
concerning telepathic intercourse with spiritual beings 
who might be occupying positions in the solar system far 
remote from this planet's immediate atmosphere, that it 
was easily possible to hold communion with sympathetic 
intelligences without coming into local contact. It was 
also stated that intermediary intelligences often serve as 
connecting links between two spheres which have some 
measure of affinity with each other, though they cannot 
be described as actually near together. And the further 
declaration was made that space plays a far less im- ! 
portant part than state in all spiritual interblendings. 
And it was yet further insisted that higher spheres can 
commune at will with lower planes of activity, but lower 
circles cannot rise into full conscious communion with 
higher circles except through such interior growth as 
proceeds from continued aspiration. 

Regarding elemental and elementary spirits and the 
future existence of animals, the speaker said that this is 
a living universe; therefore, every element is in essence 
psychical. Life is everywhere, and all forms of animate 
existence are oragnized expressions of a universally 
diffused life principle. Magicians may command the 
lower forces of Nature and employ them in magical pro- 
ductions, but elemental influences cannot simulate human 
intelligence, at seances or elsewhere, any more than 
animals can speak with human voice or display such 
attributes as pertain only to the human species. Many 
clairvoyants have had some evidence of the temporarily 
continued existence of certain animals in the post- 
mortem state, but their actual immortality cannot be 
demonstrated. 

In reply to a question concerning the likelihood of 
'astral shells' producing the phenomena of Spiritualism, 
the lecturer argued with such decision against the sup- 
position that galvanized reliquae of the departed could 
display intelligence, and the utmost that could be 
rationally conceded to that theory would be the bare 
possibility — and that an improbability — that some human 
intelligence might use a 'shell' as a vehicle or utensil in 
the production of a phenomenon, but in that case the 
source of the manifestation would still be an intelligent 
entity. 

Some ladies questioned the lecturer concerning the 
legitimacy or desirability of perpetuating such elementary 



I 



THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 37 

modes of spirit communion as table-tipping and other 
rudimental phases much in rogue in the early days of the 
Modern Spiritualistic movement, to which the following 
reply was given: 

There is always a place for elementary phenomena, 
which are well adapted to the present requirements of 
many truthseekers who are as yet unprepared to appre- 
ciate or comprehend more advanced phases of psychic 
demonstration. For that reason it is far better to en- 
courage than to discourage home circles and select 
friendly gatherings of congenial sitters, where the simpler 
forms of phenomena recur. Wherever two or three, or 
any larger number of friendly, harmonic persons unite 
to seek enlightenment, the response they win from unseen 
spheres is far more a result of their interior states of 
thought and feeling than of the method employed ex- 
ternally by those who are seeking to pierce the psychic 
veil. If the chief attention is always paid to aspiration, 
motive, desire, and all that constitutes the inner side of 
psychical investigation, the outward means employed may 
well be extremely diverse, to suit the varied needs of the 
great multitudes who are now knocking at the portals of 
the House of Wisdom. 

Replying to a question concerning fraud practiced 
during seances, the lecturer said that during extensive 
travels in various parts of the world he had witnessed. 
much genuine phenomena of many varieties, and also 
much that was ambiguous, but actual fraud was com- 
paratively rare except in cases of persons who did not 
actually claim any mediumistic gifts when .they were 
freely conversing with their cronies, and who undertook 
to simulate phenomena when they thought it would 
redound to their financial interest. Such persons, par- 
ticularly in America, where they had been sometimes 
numerous, were turncoats in profession, for they invari- 
ably felt the pulse of a neighborhood and adapted their 
trickery to the largest prevalent demand. Many church 
officials had employed these tricksters to expose Spirit- 
ualism in one place, while they had quickly gone to an- 
other and posed as ardent Spiritualists and faithful 
mediums devoted to the cause of Spiritualism. It has 
been largely owing to impostors of that stamp that 
phenomenal Spiritualism has been at times under a heavy 
cloud and honest mediums have been exposed to assault 
and persecution. When phenomena are sometimes 



iAR 27 1905 



38 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 

fraudulent though casually or frequently genuine, in the 
presence of certain public sensitives, something can be 
said in support of the plea that such mediums are some- 
times greatly influenced by the immoral calibre of sitters. 
and being often not particularly strong morally in them- 
selves, even when their sitters are not deceptive persons 
carrying a deceiving sphere with them, there is strong 
temptation to produce imitations of genuine manifesta- 
tions when the demand for phenomena greatly exceeds 
the supply. The chief cause of fraud in America has 
been the insatiable demand of a voracious public for 
twenty or more full form materializations every night in 
the week at 'circles where a dollar per head has been the 
price of admission. It stands to reason that genuine 
phenomena of so marvelous a character cannot ibe doled 
out to order for just so much money whenever payment 
is forthcoming, and it is the height of folly to patronize 
and encourage such proceedings and then vehemently de- 
nounce the people who have only catered to a vociferous 
demand. A great deal of alleged fraud deserves careful, 
unexcited scrutiny, and it is not likely that fierce de- 
nunciation, will ever effectually prevent it, as people will 
probably always be taken in more or less frequently until 
they have reached a plane of clear perceptiveness where 
they are no longer deceivable. Fraud may occasionally 
emanate from the spirit side of life, but that is an obscure 
problem and a remote contingency. Mind-reading and 
unconscious thought-transference will account for much 
seeming deception in connection with mental phenomena; 
but as this consideration opens a particularly wide field 
for psychological investigation, we should be extremely 
chary of condemning anyone without overwhelming 
evidence of guilt. Mediums certainly should not be 
prejudged unfavorably, and we cannot reasonably expect 
to remove deception by surrounding hyper-sensitive per- 
sons with a .blighting atmosphere of suspicion. 



At the close of the proceedings a cordial vote of thanks 
was accorded to Mr. Colville for his very interesting and 
instructive address. 



J 



